Syria plagued by ceasefire violations, Russia and Turkey observe

LATAKIA, Syria – The Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily bulletin on ceasefire observation published on Saturday that Russia observed seven ceasefire violations in Syria and Turkey two.

“Control groups continue monitoring the ceasefire observation within the implementation of the Memorandum on creation of the de-escalation zones in the Syrian Arab Republic, which had been signed by the Russia, Turkey, and Iran on May 4, 2017. Situation in the de-escalation zones is assessed as stable,” the bulletin reads.

“Over the last 24 hours, the Russian party of the Russia-Turkey Commission on violations of the Joint Agreement has registered seven cases of firing in the provinces of Aleppo (1), Hama (1), Homs (3) and Damascus (2). The Turkish party has registered two cases of ceasefire violations in the province of Damascus.”

“Most cases of unselective firing from small arms have been registered in the areas controlled by insurgents of the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groupings,” the Defense Ministry said.

“Over the last 24 hours the Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides has held one humanitarian action: citizens of Maran (Aleppo province) received 0.8 tons of food supplies,” the document reads. “Total number of humanitarian actions – 1,685 with a total weight of cargo delivered – 2,318.7 tons. In total, 65,629 people have received medical aid.”

“Over the last 24 hours, three ceasefire agreements have been signed with the settlements of al-Mudawara, Jebel al-Mudawara, Musherfah al-Buweindatein (Aleppo province),” the ministry reported. “Total number of settlements that had signed reconciliation agreements is 2, 281.”

“Over the last 24 hours, one application has been signed with a leader of an illegal armed formation in the de-escalation zone No. 1.The number of armed formations, which have claimed to observe the ceasefire regime, reached 234,” the bulletin said.

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.